Allison's Inheritance

"Tony! What the hell are you doing here?"

Tony Compton slid next to Allison and placed an arm around her shoulders giving them a squeeze. "I'm just here to visit my favorite niece," he said.

Allison recoiled at his touch and slid away. "I'm your only niece, Tony."

"All the more reason to stop by for a visit," he grinned, unfazed by her rejection.

"If you're here to see if I've broken the terms of the will...I haven't."

Tony shrugged. "Not yet anyway." He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Yes, I do mind."

He stood up and walked a few steps away from the stands and leaned against the chain-link fence that bordered the field. "Okay, I'll smoke over here then," he said as he removed a cigarette from the pack and fired it up. Tony's eyes remained hidden behind his designer sunglasses but Allison had no doubts about where those eyes were roaming. Despite wearing expensively tailored clothes Tony always looked slightly disheveled to her, as if the clothes were rejecting the wearer. Like his expensive suits, Tony tried to wear an aura of power that never quite fit him. Tony's father, Arthur Compton, had been very different. The sense of wealth and power, with a hint of danger just beneath the surface, had been an innate part of the man that came as naturally to him as breathing. Tony's attempts to emulate his father came off as a slightly pathetic affectation. The son was not the father.

Tony spoke again. "I've got to hand it to you, Allison, I sure as hell didn't think you'd make it this far. You've got balls."

"I take it you mean that in the figurative sense?"

"I mean it in the sense that you've got balls."

Allison was becoming impatient. "Is there some point to this visit, Tony?"

Tony looked at his beautiful, young niece. "Yeah, there's a point. I've decided to save you from further embarrassment."

"Who says I'm embarrassed?"

Tony laughed. "I've had you watched since you got back here. You're not exactly the exhibitionist type are you?"

Allison sat silently for a moment wondering who'd been spying on her. Had Tony bought off some of her fellow students? Her professors? Her friends? It doesn't matter, she thought, I haven't cheated. "Whether I like it or not is irrelevant, Tony. It only matters if I comply with the terms of the will, and I have."

Tony shrugged. "You're right, it doesn't matter. You're not going to make the full year whether you get a kick out of showing off or not."

"You don't think so?" Allison's anger began to flare. "Don't underestimate me, Tony."

"And don't you fucking underestimate me either, Allison," Tony snapped back. "You'll be off this little wooded oasis soon and in my world." Tony took another drag off his cigarette, expelling the smoke into the crisp morning air. "You remember when Mariana Perez said that you'd get assignments from someone in the company once you joined the firm?" Allison nodded. "Well, niece, that person will be me."

Allison was a little stunned by this revelation. She knew that the terms of the will required her to work for Compton Enterprises after her graduation - in the nude, of course - and that she would be given assignments by someone in the company, but the idea that her Uncle Tony would be the one with direct control over those assignments was unsettling. It only makes too much sense though, she thought, scolding herself for not having seen it earlier. Of course Arthur Compton would leave this for his son Tony. This was a battle between the two of them for control of his company after all. She also had no doubt that her late grandfather would have gotten a perverse pleasure out of this scenario.

Allison tried to pretend that this revelation made no difference to her. "So what?"

"That's what I like about you, Allison. You've got that never-say-die, can-do spirit!" he said.

"Cut out the sarcasm, Tony. Are you here for anything other than trying to intimidate me?"

"I'm not here to intimidate you, Allie. Hell, you're family, even though I try to forget that when I look at your world class tits."

"Fuck off, Tony." Allison stood up to leave.

"Whoa, I don't think I've ever heard you say the F-word before," he said. Allison began to retrieve her schoolbooks and her mother's package. "I guess you don't want to hear my offer then."

Allison stopped and looked at him. "Offer?"

Tony grinned. "I thought you might want to hear it." He tossed his cigarette on the ground, grinding it out with his heel.

"I'll listen but it had better be good," Allison said, sitting back down on the bench.

"I think it is but you decide." Tony fixed his icy blue eyes on her and began. "First thing I'm gonna do is make sure your parents are taken care of. Your mom is my sister so it's only right. I'll pay off all of their debts, including their mortgage. Hell, I'll even toss your deadbeat Dad some construction jobs to get him back on his feet."

"I can do all that and a whole lot more in less than a year, Tony. And my Dad is no deadbeat - he's worked harder in his life than you ever will."

Tony shrugged and continued. "Second, I'll offer you a job. You want Compton Enterprises to do more to protect the environment? Done deal. I'll make you our Director of Environmental Protection. You'll get paid the same wages as our other directors, which is damn good for a girl just out of college. You can even wear clothes to work if you want," he smirked, "although I won't object if you don't."

"And then you'll fire me the first chance you get. Sorry, but I don't trust you as far as I can throw you."

"No? That hurts, Allison, it really does," Tony said with a mock hurt in his voice. "I'm trying to help you out here. But just to reassure you that my intentions are pure I've put all of this into a contract. It even includes some job protection guarantees. You can have your lawyer look at it if you want."

Allison thought about this for a moment and had to admit that the offer was tempting. But then any offer that allowed her to put her clothes on, to be a normal human being again, would sound tempting. "Is that it?" she asked.

"That's it, that's the offer. Take it or leave it."

"And if I leave it?"

"Then, Allie, you'll have a very interesting year, I can promise you that."

"You must be getting nervous if you're offering to buy me off already," she said.

"Nervous?" he laughed. "Trust me, with what I have planned for you I'm not nervous at all. I think it would be fun."

"Then why the offer?"

"Because I want to get rid of my title as Interim CEO and start moving ahead with my plans. Having to deal with this bullshit is just a distraction for both me and the company. Dad wanted to get his kicks and have you parade around naked for awhile. He got his last wish so now it's time to put this crap behind us and move on. It's time for me to start doing the job I was trained for."

"I suppose this Environmental Protection job is just a sham, huh? I won't have any real power."

"Not necessarily. I'm not going to dismantle the company to save a few goddamn spotted owls or anything but Compton Enterprises does have a bad rep. It won't hurt to have someone like you who knows how to deal with environmental groups."

"So you want me to be an environmental P.R. spin artist? No thanks."

"You'll have the chance to make it more than that if you think you're capable," Tony said.

"But you'll have the final say on any policy changes, right?"

"Yep, it's going to be my company."

"And if I can stay nude for the entire year it will be my company and I'll be the one making those decisions, Tony."

"That's right, but if you don't make it - and you won't - you and your parents will get nothing. That's the gamble, babe. The offer comes off the table in 48 hours."

"I'll need to see the contract before I can even begin to think about it," Allison said.

Tony opened up a leather case he'd brought with him and pulled out a neatly typed and stapled document, handing it to Allison. "I can have a copy delivered to your lawyer and another to your parents within the hour if you want." Allison thumbed through the legalese briefly and nodded her head. "Okay," Tony said. "It'll be done."

"Why only 48 hours?"

"Because I want to light a fire under your pretty little ass and get this thing done so we can both get on with our lives. This isn't a negotiation either, college girl, in case you or your lawyer comes up with the bright idea of a counter-offer. This is the only deal you're ever going to be offered. If you turn it down you won't get another."

The Storm

Allison stood on her 3rd floor dorm balcony watching the lightning in the distance rip through the evening sky. The early morning coolness had given way to rising temperatures in the afternoon as a warm front passed through the area dragging the first thunderstorm of the season behind it. The warm night breeze caressed her bare skin as she drank in the beauty and power of nature. For the first time since shedding her clothing her condition felt natural; it felt right. It's good to be naked on a night like this, she thought to herself as flashes of light danced across the sky, delighting her.

The breeze began to freshen and the rolls of thunder grew louder, the flashes of lightning more frequent. The trees below began to bend as the edge of the storm reached the small college campus. When the rain began Allison let it pour over her body, cleansing her of the psychological filth she'd been wading through for the past two weeks. It was only when the violence of the center of the storm reached the campus that Allison reluctantly retreated into the room, dripping from the warm rain that had cascaded over her body.

Allison toweled herself off as a thunderous boom rattled the windows and the room turned to blackness. She blindly made her way to her desk and fumbled through a drawer until her hand found the matches. Another crash filled the night as she lit a candle near her bed. The flickering flame provided the only light as she lay on her bed.

The feelings of shame possessing her for the past two weeks were washed away now, at least temporarily, and replaced by a powerful feeling of sensuality. Her hands moved over her breasts, still beaded with moisture from the rain, and began teasing her nipples until they stood erect. Those hands began their journey south over her rising and falling stomach, caressing it in circular motions, then continued down her body.

Allison gasped as her fingers reached their final destination. Her back arched and she began moving to the rhythm of the storm, the violent rain beating against the windows, her wet hair spilling across her face. She moved faster now as the room was illuminated by flashes of light streaming in through the windows. Allison and the storm reached their climax together in this strange dance and she let out a scream as the thunder boomed overhead one last time. With a final moan, Allison sank into her bed and listened quietly as the storm gradually faded away to the east.

After the storm had finally disappeared like a lover into the night Allison sat up and saw the towel lying beside the bed in the flickering candlelight. She began slowly toweling her hair as memories of the day began flooding back.

After her little meeting with Uncle Tony, Allison had only had time to drop off the contract and her grandmother's diary in the room before going off to classes for the day. The feeling of being nude in a college classroom was something she was never going to get used to and the past two weeks had been emotionally exhausting. After her classes had ended Allison started making phone calls.

The first call she'd made was to her attorney and family friend, Bill Henderson. She wanted to make sure the contract was legit before wasting any time deciding whether to accept it or not.

"Allison, the contract looks pretty solid from my first reading of it," Bill had said. "There's some language I'd like to see tightened up and Tony Compton's lawyer would probably agree to that if you want to go ahead with it. But I think it legally backs up the promises he made to you."

"So what should I do, Bill? Is it a good deal?"

"It depends on what you consider good. Compared to what you'd get in the inheritance, it's damn poor. But compared to the prospect of having to spend a year in the nude it might be a good deal from your perspective. It's really a judgment call on your part."

"God, Bill, I'd do just about anything right now to end this if I can. This whole thing has been so humiliating and I really don't know if I can make it, especially if that jerk has control over me while I'm working for Compton Enterprises."

"That's perfectly understandable, Allison."

"So you think I should accept it?"

"Speaking as a lawyer, I'd say no. The claim that this is the best offer you're ever going to get is bullshit, in my opinion. The longer you last the better the offers will be. But as a friend I wouldn't blame you at all for taking it and ending this farce."

"How is the legal challenge to the will going?" she asked.

"I'm moving ahead with it as best I can but Arthur Compton's lawyers are stalling every step of the way. It'll be six months at minimum before we can get it to court."

"Six months!"

"I'm afraid so, Allison. And, frankly, I'm not completely confident about our chances when we do get there. I've come up with some things I think might be effective in challenging the language in the will but it's not a slam dunk by any means."

Allison's next call had been to her mother, Sarah. Allison could hear the disappointment in her mother's voice when she told her she was considering accepting the settlement. "But you've come this far already, are you willing to throw all that away?" her mom had asked.

"It's only been two weeks and I'm already a nervous wreck!" Allison tried to choke back the tears. "God, Mom, it's been horrible, the eyes staring at me everywhere I go. It never stops. I hate it!"

Sarah was silent on the line for a moment before speaking. "I thought you were stronger than that, Allie."

Allison was a little stunned by this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I thought you were strong enough to beat your grandfather at his own game."

"It's not a game, Mom, it's my life!"

"Of course it's your life and your choice, but if you take this offer you'll regret it for the rest of your life, hon. Do you really want to be Tony's little flunky? I'd give you six months before you quit in frustration."

"Oh, and you think it would be easier to go to work naked every day for almost a year?"

"No, sweetheart, it would be a lot more difficult, but you'd at least have a finite time frame to deal with and a huge reward at the end. If you take the deal you'll be stuck working for Tony indefinitely with not much to show for it."

Allison thought about this for a moment. "I don't know, Mom, I might really have a chance to do some good there in that environmental job he's offering."

Sarah laughed derisively. "Do some good? What good do you think you'll be able to do in that job? Once Tony's in full control and you're under his thumb he'll crush you and strip you of any power you may have. Take the offer if you want, Allie, but don't be naive, please. You're smarter than that."

"Naive?" Allison shrieked. "You try doing this! You try being naked in front of all your friends and teachers and strangers! You try living with everyone staring and leering at you all the time and making jokes behind your back! You come here and take my place for awhile, Mom, and then talk to me again about being naive and weak!"

There was a brief silence over the phone before Sarah responded quietly, "I would if I could, Allison."

"Fuck you!" Allison shouted and then slammed down the phone, angry and frustrated over the lack of support from her mother. That greedy bitch doesn't give a damn what I'm going through, she thought to herself and then immediately felt guilty for the thought. She couldn't remember ever cursing at her mother before. Allison had paced the room like a caged animal waiting for the return call from her Mom apologizing and telling her it was okay to take the deal. The call had never come.

Allison stared into the candlelight now trying to clear her mind and remove the stress that seemed to be a constant companion these days. Had it really been only been two weeks since she'd been a normal, happy college girl? It already seemed like it had been in another lifetime.

In the corner of her eye she saw her grandmother's diary lying on the end table. She picked it up and began turning the pages. It was filled with clean, elegant handwriting and as she thumbed through it a photograph fell out onto the bed. Allison looked at it closely and saw a beautiful raven-haired woman of about nineteen with a melancholy smile on her face. Allison was stunned. She had no real memories of her grandmother and what few photos she'd seen of her had been taken later in her life. The young woman staring at her now could be her sister. The resemblance between Allison and her grandmother Rebecca was unmistakable.

Rebecca's Diary

Allison began to read Rebecca's diary in the flickering candlelight. It told the story of a young girl who had lost her parents in a car wreck early in her life; of bouncing from foster home to foster home, from school to school, always the new kid in class, always the one wearing the plain, unstylish clothes, never the one invited to the parties. It revealed a quiet, introspective girl who dreamed of being a princess someday - someone who desperately wanted to be loved and adored by all those around her. It also revealed a girl who only slowly became aware of her growing beauty as her teenage years passed.

Allison continued to read, fascinated by the life and thoughts of a woman she'd never really known. Rebecca had graduated from high school and then gone out into the world struggling to get by as best she could. She had been working as a waitress in a restaurant when she met a man named Arthur and the words she wrote sent a chill up Allison's spine:

There's a guy named Arthur who comes into the restaurant two or three times a week. I'm not sure what his last name is but he's a very good tipper and really good-looking. I think he's rich, not that that matters. Ha, ha, right. I've been teasing him that the name Arthur is too formal and stuffy for such a young man and I've been calling him Art or Artie. I don't think he likes those names, though, so I went back to calling him Arthur. Anyway, he asked me out today! Did I mention he was really good-looking? And rich? Ha, ha I guess I did.

The almost giddy tone made Allison want to jump into the diary and warn Rebecca that there was a dark, manipulative side to this rich, good-looking young man. But she couldn't, of course, and she knew she never would have come into being without the union of these two people. Both her fate and Rebecca's were inevitably linked to Arthur Compton.

Allison continued reading about Arthur's courtship of Rebecca. At first he'd been a perfect gentleman, lavishing gifts on the girl and taking her out to exclusive clubs and parties. It was a heady time for a young girl who'd grown up poor and had been shuffled around all her life. Allison read about the first time they had made love, how nervous Rebecca had been and how gentle Arthur had been with her. Rebecca fell in love. But even during those early days she'd been intuitive enough to sense there was more to him than he was revealing to her. She wrote: Arthur has never been anything but kind and charming around me but I get the feeling that he's not someone you'd want to cross. There's nothing I can really put my finger on, it's just the way that I see some people act around him, like they're a little bit intimidated by him. There's just this undercurrent in him - I guess that's what you'd call it - that makes you feel like he's in control of every situation.